Artist & writer

Category Archives: News

I have decided to start a new blog and change my main URL to danijones.com. The site at danidraws.com has served me well over the years, and there’s lots of great stuff contained within its archives. Don’t worry – I am not taking it down anytime soon! All of the posts will remain online indefinitely for you to read and peruse.

Notable Events

I had several books released!

Monsters Vs. Kittens

Monsters Vs. Kittens is my first authored/illustrated children’s picture book. It was released as the first title for the new publishing company Stan Lee’s Kids Universe. Yes, THAT Stan Lee, of Spiderman and lots of other comics and movie cameo fame.

And on a completely different note, I wrote an instructional book about drawing on the iPad called iPad For Artists. It was published by Ilex Press early this year. It has achieved pretty good sales and feedback. I started up a new website where I can continue to share tips and reviews about making art on the iPad at ipadforartists.com.

United We Spy by Ally Carter
This is the last book in the Gallagher Girls series. I was sad to see the series end this year, but was happy for this book. If you haven’t read them, it is a fun series about a secret spy school for girls. I am ever in favor of all books that feature independent kick-butt leading girl characters, and this has got plenty of them.

Divergent and Insurgent by Veronica Roth
These did not come out this year, but the third book Allegiant did. I haven’t read Allegiant yet, but I thoroughly enjoyed the first two and am looking forward to the Divergent movie in 2014.

This book came out ten years ago. My sister made me read it this year. It is probably one of my favorite books ever now.

What did you enjoy this year?

I include these lists not just for the fun of it. As someone who is in the business of creating, making art, and telling stories, I want to encourage others to support those who are out there doing it too and doing it well. Go watch/read/buy these super things, and encourage your friends too!

Goals

Looking back at 2013, I got a lot done and hit a lot of milestones. For 2014 I’m hoping to get back into comics and writing. Besides making slow progress on my webcomic, and getting a sketchbook published at the end of the year, I didn’t do a lot in 2013 on this front. I got a lot of freelance work this year, which is a good thing, but it will be good to get back in the habit of more personal projects and original work.

I was excited to experiment with different subjects and media. I used a combination of gouache and digital techniques to do the paintings. I explained a lot of the process in my previous sneak peek blog post. I’m really pleased with the results!

I recently found out that I won a runner-up prize in the Star Trek design contest over at welovefine.com! I won with this Starfleet Girl design, and it is now available to buy over on the We Love Fine site. (And in case you missed them the first time, check out the rest of the designs I made in my previous post.)

*** UPDATE: Inktober is done! The entire series is available as a digital sketchbook here or as a poster here. ***

I will be participating in a sketch challenge called INKtober throughout the month. Check out Jake Parker’s blog for the details if you’d like to draw along. The gist is this: Make one ink drawing on a regular basis throughout the month of October.

I will be adding my sketches to this post as I go. You will also be able to follow my INKtober updates on my Twitter and Instagram feeds. (And if you want to see ALL the INKtober sketches, search for the #INKtober hashtag on all the major social whatnots.)

Original Art

I will also be posting each original work up for sale as soon as I finish them. Each purchase will also come with a FREE digital sketchbook that will contain all the pieces in the series. The book will be delivered automatically to your email once it is completed around November 1.

As a bit of fun, I decided to enter a contest over at We Love Fine to design a Star Trek t-shirt. You win the contest by getting lots of good ratings, so if you’re a Trek fan and want to see my art on some geeky t-shirts, head on over to welovefine.com and rate my designs! Rating is open from 8/20 to 9/17.

MeCAF

First up was the Maine Comics Arts Festival – MeCAF – back in May. If you have never been, it is a beautiful show that takes place right on the water in Portland, Maine. This was my second time visiting, but my first time exhibiting.

Here was my view from my table:

Me:

Nice crowd:

And here’s all the MeCAF photos:

Kids Read Comics and the Kids Comics Revolution Awards

Kids Read Comics was as fun as ever! This was my third year attending. As usual, there were lots of great artists and lots of enthusiasm for comics from kids, creators, librarians, parents, and teachers alike.

Me and my table:

I was excited to see my former schoolmate Mike Laughead, who attended the show for the first time. We haven’t see each other since our BYU-I days. Nice catching up Mike!

This year, they also held the first ever Kids Comics Revolution Awards. I was honored to receive the award for Favorite Webcomic for My Sister the Freak. My award was almost stolen by the evil Vordak, but he was rescued by a good librarian and it now sits on my desk.

The rest of the KRC photos:

Fun times! These are the only shows I had scheduled for this year, but I hope to go to these shows again or find some other events for next year. Thanks to all those who came up to me and said hi. I hope I get to meet more of you all in the future. I enjoy it immensely.

Next week, I will be headed to Michigan to attend Kids Read Comics in Ann Arbor. It will be Saturday and Sunday June 22-23 at the Ann Arbor District Library. There will be lots of other comics creators there like Ben Hatke (Zita the Spacegirl), Raina Telgemeier (Smile), Dave Roman (Astronaut Academy), John Green (Teen Boat), Rafael Rosado (Giants Beware!), Mike Laughead (Legend of Acornhead), and James Anderson (Ellie on Planet X). It is a really fun event (this will be my third time attending!) so please come and check it out!

I will be attending the Maine Comics Arts Festival in Portland, ME this weekend May 19. I visited the show last year, but this is the first time I will be exhibiting. It is a great show and the location is beautiful! Please come and enjoy Portland and all the great comics artists that will be there. I am looking forward to meeting some of you in person. (Plus, you know, Jeff Smith will be there. You might want to come for him too.)

The show is 10 AM to 5 PM at the Ocean Gateway. Adult admission is $5, and kids 12 or under are free.

Voting is open to kids only. You can vote online or by mail. You can also pick up a ballot in person at the Toronto Comics Arts Festival or at Kids Read Comics. Winners will be announced June 23 at the KRC convention.

Please take a moment to vote if you can and show appreciation to your favorite comics creators, even if you’re not voting for me! Many of these people are some of the hardest working, most dedicated people I know and they deserve the recognition!

Thanks to everyone who entered the Monsters Vs. Giveaway contest. I had my family help pick the winners in order to get a variety of unbiased opinions, but they pretty much all agreed on the winner. And so without further ado…

The Winners

The top pick goes to Kat Valencia, who made this super cute illustration:

Also, watch Stan Lee read my book!

SLKU has partnered with the makers of the A Story Before Bed app for a digital read-along version of the book. You can record yourself reading the book, or you can buy a pre-recorded version that is read by Stan the Man himself. To see it, you make an account on the A Story Before Bed website, then purchase the book from the link below. The book is then accessible both on the website and in the iPad app. I may or may not have watched this several times this past weekend. ;)

Buy Monsters Vs. Kittens!

Giveaway!

I’m going to giveaway TWO signed hardcover copies of MVK. Here’s how to enter:

UPDATE: Giveaway is done! Here are the winners.
1) Email me a drawing of a monster with a kitten. Send to dani@danijones.com with the subject “Monsters Vs. Kittens Giveaway”.
2) Include your name, age (if under 18), and website (if applicable).
3) Entries may be posted on my website later, so you have to be ok with that.
4) All ages and skill levels are eligible and encouraged. Kids, please have a parent send your entries.

I will choose two winners – one for the most creative, and one random.

My book iPad For Artists was released earlier this month. The response so far has been fantastic! Thanks to all of you who have bought the book and sent me comments. I want to see all the great artwork you guys and gals are making on your iPads!

Here is a little peek at the book. In the “Creating a Children’s Illustration” tutorial, I made this illustration of a little pig in his house of straw. I drew it in Sketchbook Pro, which is a great all-around drawing app. I used my Wacom Bamboo iPad stylus to help me out.

Here are the process shots:

Buy the Book!

Check out the full “Creating a Children’s Illustration” tutorial, plus a variety of other tutorials, in iPad For Artists!

Giveaway!

There’s still time to enter my giveaway for a chance to win a free signed copy of iPad For Artists. Rules and details are in this post.

I have written a new book called iPad For Artists! It has been published by Ilex Press and is available to order TODAY! The book is filled with tips and tutorials for artists who are interested in drawing and painting on the iPad. I am excited to finally share it with all of you!

As you may know if you’ve kept up with this blog, I love drawing on my iPad. You can check out some of my previous iPad art and videos that I’ve posted before. It has been a big learning experience for me, and now you can grab all my tips, tricks, and knowledge that I’ve gained in one super book.

Learn all about the book and view previews on the dedicated page I made here:

Learning how to use the iPad for sketching and illustration work has been a rewarding journey for me. I will admit, it was frustrating at first! The iPad is so much different than your typical graphics tablet, but it also has HUGE potential that you can’t get anywhere else. I’m excited that other artists might start creating art on their iPad because of this book. If you are one of those people, be sure to let me know! I’d love to hear from you.

I can’t believe 2012 is almost over! I’ve been thinking a lot about how the year has gone, what I’ve accomplished, and where I’m going as 2013 approaches. It’s been a year filled with both failures and successes. I thought a large post in honor of 2012 would be fun and informative, while also helping me map out my goals for the coming year. I might have to make this a tradition (if I even remember to do this next December!).